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Electric motor
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An electric motor uses electrical energy to produce mechanical energy, nearly always by the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors. The reverse process, that of using mechanical energy to produce electrical energy, is accomplished by a generator or dynamo.
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An electric motor uses electrical energy to produce mechanical energy, nearly always by the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors. The reverse process, that of using mechanical energy to produce electrical energy, is accomplished by a generator or dynamo. Traction motors used on vehicles often perform both tasks.
Electric motors are found in a myriad of uses such as industrial fans, blowers and pumps, machine tools, household appliances, power tools, and computer disk drives, among many other applications. Electric motors may be operated by direct current from a battery in a portable device or motor vehicle, or from alternating current from a central electrical distribution grid. The smallest motors may be found in electric wristwatches. Medium-size motors of highly standardized dimensions and characteristics provide convenient mechanical power for industrial uses. The very largest electric motors are used for propulsion of large ships, and for such purposes as pipeline compressors, with ratings in the thousands of kilowatts. Electric motors may be classified by the source of electric power, by their internal construction, and by application.
The physical principle of production of mechanical force by the interaction of an electric current and a magnetic field was known as early as 1821. Electric motors of increasing efficiency were constructed throughout the 19th century, but commercial exploitation of electric motors on a large scale required efficient electrical generators and electrical distribution networks.
History and development
The principle of conversion of electrical energy into mechanical energy by electromagnetic means was demonstrated by the British scientist Michael Faraday in 1821 and consisted of a free-hanging wire dipping into a pool of mercury.
A permanent magnet was placed in the middle of the pool of mercury.
When a current was passed through the wire, the wire rotated around the magnet, showing that the current gave rise to a circular magnetic field around the wire. This motor is often demonstrated in school physics classes, but brine (salt water) is sometimes used in place of the toxic mercury. This is the simplest form of a class of electric motors called homopolar motors. A later refinement is the Barlow's Wheel. These were demonstration devices, unsuited to practical applications due to limited power.
The first real electric motor using electromagnets for both stationary and rotating parts was demonstrated by Ányos Jedlik in Hungary in 1828. Jedlik built an electric motor-propelled vehicle that same year.
The first English commutator-type direct-current electric motor capable of a practical application was invented by the British scientist William Sturgeon in 1832. Following Sturgeon's work, a commutator-type direct-current electric motor made with the intention of commercial use was built by the American Thomas Davenport and patented in 1837. Although several of these motors were built and used to operate equipment such as a printing press, due to the high cost of primary battery power, the motors were commercially unsuccessful and Davenport went bankrupt. Several inventors followed Sturgeon in the development of DC motors but all encountered the same cost issues with primary battery power. No electricity distribution had been developed at the time. Like Sturgeon's motor, there was no practical commercial market for these motors.
The modern DC motor was invented by accident in 1873, when Zénobe Gramme connected the dynamo he had invented to a second similar unit, driving it as a motor. The Gramme machine was the first electric motor that was successful in the industry.
In 1888 Nikola Tesla invented the first practicable AC motor and with it the polyphase power transmission system. Tesla continued his work on the AC motor in the years to follow at the Westinghouse company.
Application of electric motors revolutionized industry. Industrial processes were no longer limited by power transmission using shaft, belts, compressed air or hydraulic pressure. Instead every machine could be equipped with its own electric motor, providing easy control at the point of use, and improving power transmission efficiency. Electric motors applied in agriculture eliminated human and animal muscle power from such tasks as handling grain or pumping water. Household uses of electric motors reduced heavy labor in the home and made higher standards of convenience, comfort and safety possible. Today, electric motors consume more than half of all electric energy produced.
Categorization of electric motors
The classic division of electric motors has been that of Alternating Current (AC) types vs Direct Current (DC) types. This is more a de facto convention, rather than a rigid distinction. For example, many classic DC motors run on AC power, these motors being referred to as universal motors.
The ongoing trend toward electronic control further muddles the distinction, as modern drivers have moved the commutator out of the motor shell. For this new breed of motor, driver circuits are relied upon to generate sinusoidal AC drive currents, or some approximation of. The two best examples are: the brushless DC motor and the stepping motor, both being poly-phase AC motors requiring external electronic control.
Considering all rotating (or linear) electric motors require synchronism between a moving magnetic field and a moving current sheet for average torque production, there is a clearer distinction between an asynchronous motor and synchronous types. An asynchronous motor requires slip between the moving magnetic field and a winding set to induce current in the winding set by mutual inductance; the most ubiquitous example being the common AC induction motor which must slip in order to generate torque. In the synchronous types, induction (or slip) is not a requisite for magnetic field or current production (eg. permanent magnet motors, synchronous brush-less wound-rotor doubly-fed electric machine).
Comparison of motor types
| Type | Advantages | Disadvantages | Typical Application | Typical Drive |
|---|
AC Induction
(Shaded Pole) | Least expensive
Long life
high power | Rotation slips from frequency
Low starting torque | Fans | Uni/Poly-phase AC | AC Induction
(split-phase capacitor) | High power
high starting torque | Rotation slips from frequency | Appliances | Uni/Poly-phase AC | | AC Synchronous | Rotation in-sync with freq
long-life (alternator) | More expensive | Clocks
Audio turntables
tape drives | Uni/Poly-phase AC | | Stepper DC | Precision positioning
High holding torque |
Requires a controller | Positioning in printers and floppy drives | Multiphase DC | | Brushless DC electric motor | Long lifespan
low maintenance
High efficiency | High initial cost
Requires a controller | Hard drives
CD/DVD players
electric vehicles | Multiphase DC | | Brushed DC electric motor | Low initial cost
Simple speed control (Dynamo) | High maintenance (brushes)
Low lifespan | Treadmill exercisers
automotive starters | Direct (PWM) |
Torque capability of motor types
When optimally designed for a given active current (i.e., torque current), voltage, pole-pair number, excitation frequency (i.e., synchronous speed), and core flux density, all categories of electric motors or generators will exhibit virtually the same maximum continuous shaft torque (i.e., operating torque) within a given physical size of electromagnetic core. Some applications require bursts of torque beyond the maximum operating torque, such as short bursts of torque to accelerate an electric vehicle from standstill. Always limited by magnetic core saturation or safe operating temperature rise and voltage, the capacity for torque bursts beyond the maximum operating torque differs significantly between categories of electric motors or generators.
Note: Capacity for bursts of torque should not be confused with Field Weakening capability inherent in fully electromagnetic electric machines (Permanent Magnet (PM) electric machine are excluded). Field Weakening, which is not readily available with PM electric machines, allows an electric machine to operate beyond the designed frequency of excitation without electrical damage.
Electric machines without a transformer circuit topology, such as Field-Wound (i.e., electromagnet) or Permanent Magnet (PM) Synchronous electric machines cannot realize bursts of torque higher than the maximum designed torque without saturating the magnetic core and rendering any increase in current as useless. Furthermore, the permanent magnet assembly of PM synchronous electric machines can be irreparably damaged, if bursts of torque exceeding the maximum operating torque rating are attempted.
Electric machines with a transformer circuit topology, such as Induction (i.e., asynchronous) electric machines, Induction Doubly-Fed electric machines, and Induction or Synchronous Wound-Rotor Doubly-Fed (WRDF) electric machines, exhibit very high bursts of torque because the active current (i.e., Magneto-Motive-Force or the product of current and winding-turns) induced on either side of the transformer oppose each other and as a result, the active current contributes nothing to the transformer coupled magnetic core flux density, which would otherwise lead to core saturation.
Electric machines that rely on Induction or Asynchronous principles short-circuit one port of the transformer circuit and as a result, the reactive impedance of the transformer circuit becomes dominant as slip increases, which limits the magnitude of active (i.e., real) current. Still, bursts of torque that are two to three times higher than the maximum design torque are realizable.
The Synchronous WRDF electric machine is the only electric machine with a truly dual ported transformer circuit topology (i.e., both ports independently excited with no short-circuited port). The dual ported transformer circuit topology is known to be unstable and requires a multiphase slip-ring-brush assembly to propagate limited power to the rotor winding set. If a precision means were available to instantaneously control torque angle and slip for synchronous operation during motoring or generating while simultaneously providing brushless power to the rotor winding set (see Brushless wound-rotor doubly-fed electric machine), the active current of the Synchronous WRDF electric machine would be independent of the reactive impedance of the transformer circuit and bursts of torque significantly higher than the maximum operating torque and far beyond the practical capability of any other type of electric machine would be realizable. Torque bursts greater than eight times operating torque have been calculated.
DC Motors
A DC motor is designed to run on DC electric power. Two examples of pure DC designs are Michael Faraday's homopolar motor (which is uncommon), and the ball bearing motor, which is (so far) a novelty. By far the most common DC motor types are the brushed and brushless types, which use internal and external commutation respectively to create an oscillating AC current from the DC source -- so they are not purely DC machines in a strict sense.
Brushed DC motors
The classic DC motor design generates an oscillating current in a wound rotor with a split ring commutator, and either a wound or permanent magnet stator. A rotor consists of one or more coils of wire wound around a core on a shaft; an electrical power source is connected to the rotor coil through the shaft, causing current to flow in it, producing electromagnetism. The commutator causes the current in the coils to be switched as the rotor turns, keeping the magnetic poles of the rotor from ever fully aligning with the magetic poles of the stator field, so that the rotor never stops (like a compass needle does) but rather keeps rotating indefinitely (as long as power is applied and is sufficient for the motor to overcome the shaft torque load and internal losses due to friction, etc.)
Many of the limitations of the classic commutator DC motor are due to the need for brushes to press against the commutator. This creates friction. At higher speeds, brushes have increasing difficulty in maintaining contact. Brushes may bounce off the irregularities in the commutator surface, creating sparks. (Sparks are also created inevitably by the brushes making and breaking circuits through the rotor coils as the brushes cross the insulating gaps between commutator sections. Depending on the commutator design, this may include the brushes shorting together adjacent sections--and hence coil ends--momentarily while crossing the gaps. Furthermore, the inductance of the rotor coils causes the voltage across each to rise when its circuit is opened, increasing the sparking of the brushes.) This sparking limits the maximum speed of the machine, as too-rapid sparking will overheat, erode, or even melt the commutator. The current density per unit area of the brushes, in combination with their resistivity, limits the output of the motor. The making and breaking of electric contact also causes electrical noise, and the sparks additionally cause RFI. Brushes eventually wear out and require replacement, and the commutator itself is subject to wear and maintenance (on larger motors) or replacement (on small motors). The commutator assembly on a large machine is a costly element, requiring precision assembly of many parts. On small motors, the commutator is usually permanently integrated into the rotor, so replacing it usually requires replacing the whole rotor.
Large brushes are desired for a larger brush contact area to maximize motor output, but small brushes are desired for low mass to maximize the speed at which the motor can run without the brushes excessively bouncing and sparking (comparable to the problem of "valve float" in internal combustion engines). (Small brushes are also desirable for lower cost.) Stiffer brush springs can also be used to make brushes of a given mass work at a higher speed, but at the cost of greater friction losses (lower efficiency) and accelerated brush and commutator wear. Therefore, DC motor brush design entails a trade-off between output power, speed, and efficiency/wear.
There are three types of DC motor:
- DC series motor
- DC shunt motor
- DC compound motor - there are also two types:
- cumulative compound
- differentially compounded
Brushless DC motors
Some of the problems of the brushed DC motor are eliminated in the brushless design. In this motor, the mechanical "rotating switch" or commutator/brushgear assembly is replaced by an external electronic switch synchronised to the rotor's position. Brushless motors are typically 85-90% efficient, whereas DC motors with brushgear are typically 75-80% efficient.
Midway between ordinary DC motors and stepper motors lies the realm of the brushless DC motor. Built in a fashion very similar to stepper motors, these often use a permanent magnet external rotor, three phases of driving coils, one or more Hall effect sensors to sense the position of the rotor, and the associated drive electronics. The coils are activated, one phase after the other, by the drive electronics as cued by the signals from the Hall effect sensors. In effect, they act as three-phase synchronous motors containing their own variable-frequency drive electronics. A specialized class of brushless DC motor controllers utilize EMF feedback through the main phase connections instead of Hall effect sensors to determine position and velocity. These motors are used extensively in electric radio-controlled vehicles. When configured with the magnets on the outside, these are referred to by modelists as outrunner motors.
Brushless DC motors are commonly used where precise speed control is necessary, as in computer disk drives or in video cassette recorders, the spindles within CD, CD-ROM (etc.) drives, and mechanisms within office products such as fans, laser printers and photocopiers. They have several advantages over conventional motors:
- Compared to AC fans using shaded-pole motors, they are very efficient, running much cooler than the equivalent AC motors. This cool operation leads to much-improved life of the fan's bearings.
- Without a commutator to wear out, the life of a DC brushless motor can be significantly longer compared to a DC motor using brushes and a commutator. Commutation also tends to cause a great deal of electrical and RF noise; without a commutator or brushes, a brushless motor may be used in electrically sensitive devices like audio equipment or computers.
- The same Hall effect sensors that provide the commutation can also provide a convenient tachometer signal for closed-loop control (servo-controlled) applications. In fans, the tachometer signal can be used to derive a "fan OK" signal.
- The motor can be easily synchronized to an internal or external clock, leading to precise speed control.
- Brushless motors have no chance of sparking, unlike brushed motors, making them better suited to environments with volatile chemicals and fuels. Also, sparking generates ozone which can accumulate in poorly ventilated buildings risking harm to occupants' health.
- Brushless motors are usually used in small equipment such as computers and are generally used to get rid of unwanted heat.
- They are also very quiet motors which is an advantage if being used in equipment that is affected by vibrations.
Modern DC brushless motors range in power from a fraction of a watt to many kilowatts. Larger brushless motors up to about 100 kW rating are used in electric vehicles. They also find significant use in high-performance electric model aircraft.
Coreless or Ironless DC motors
Nothing in the design of any of the motors described above requires that the iron (steel) portions of the rotor actually rotate; torque is exerted only on the windings of the electromagnets. Taking advantage of this fact is the coreless or ironless DC motor, a specialized form of a brush or brushless DC motor. Optimized for rapid acceleration, these motors have a rotor that is constructed without any iron core. The rotor can take the form of a winding-filled cylinder inside the stator magnets, a basket surrounding the stator magnets, or a flat pancake (possibly formed on a printed wiring board) running between upper and lower stator magnets. The windings are typically stabilized by being impregnated with Electrical epoxy potting systems. Filled epoxies that have moderate mixed viscosity and a long gel time. These systems are highlighted by low shrinkage and low exotherm. Typically UL 1446 recognized as a potting compound for use up to 180C (Class H) UL File No. E 210549.
Because the rotor is much lighter in weight (mass) than a conventional rotor formed from copper windings on steel laminations, the rotor can accelerate much more rapidly, often achieving a mechanical time constant under 1 ms. This is especially true if the windings use aluminum rather than the heavier copper. But because there is no metal mass in the rotor to act as a heat sink, even small coreless motors must often be cooled by forced air.
Another advantage of ironless DC motors is that there is no cogging (vibration caused by attraction between the iron and the magnets) and parasitic eddy currents cannot form in the iron. This can greatly improve efficiency, but variable-speed controllers must use a significantly higher switching rate (>150kHz) or direct current because of the decreased electromagnetic induction.
These motors were commonly used to drive the capstan(s) of magnetic tape drives and are still widely used in high-performance servo-controlled systems, like radio-controlled vehicles/aircraft, humanoid robotic systems, industrial automation, medical devices, etc.
Universal motors
A variant of the wound field DC motor is the universal motor. The name derives from the fact that it may use AC or DC supply current, although in practice they are nearly always used with AC supplies. The principle is that in a wound field DC motor the current in both the field and the armature (and hence the resultant magnetic fields) will alternate (reverse polarity) at the same time, and hence the mechanical force generated is always in the same direction. In practice, the motor must be specially designed to cope with the AC (impedance must be taken into account, as must the pulsating force), and the resultant motor is generally less efficient than an equivalent pure DC motor.
Operating at normal power line frequencies, the maximum output of universal motors is limited and motors exceeding one kilowatt (about 1.3 horsepower) are rare. But universal motors also form the basis of the traditional railway traction motor in electric railways. In this application, to keep their electrical efficiency high, they were operated from very low frequency AC supplies, with 25 and 16.7 hertz (Hz) operation being common. Because they are universal motors, locomotives using this design were also commonly capable of operating from a third rail powered by DC.
The advantage of the universal motor is that AC supplies may be used on motors which have the typical characteristics of DC motors, specifically high starting torque and very compact design if high running speeds are used. The negative aspect is the maintenance and short life problems caused by the commutator. As a result such motors are usually used in AC devices such as food mixers and power tools which are used only intermittently. Continuous speed control of a universal motor running on AC is easily obtained by use of a thyristor circuit, while stepped speed control can be accomplished using multiple taps on the field coil. Household blenders that advertise many speeds frequently combine a field coil with several taps and a diode that can be inserted in series with the motor (causing the motor to run on half-wave rectified AC).
Universal motors generally run at high speeds, making them useful for appliances such as blenders, vacuum cleaners, and hair dryers where high RPM operation is desirable. They are also commonly used in portable power tools, such as drills, circular and jig saws, where the motor's characteristics work well. Many vacuum cleaner and weed trimmer motors exceed 10,000 RPM, while Dremel and other similar miniature grinders will often exceed 30,000 RPM.
Motor damage may occur due to overspeeding (running at an RPM in excess of design limits) if the unit is operated with no significant load. On larger motors, sudden loss of load is to be avoided, and the possibility of such an occurrence is incorporated into the motor's protection and control schemes. In smaller applications, a fan blade attached to the shaft often acts as an artificial load to limit the motor speed to a safe value, as well as a means to circulate cooling airflow over the armature and field windings.
With the very low cost of semiconductor rectifiers, some applications that would have previously used a universal motor now use a pure DC motor, sometimes with a permanent magnet field.
AC motors
In 1882, Nikola Tesla invented the rotating magnetic field, and pioneered the use of a rotary field of force to operate machines. He exploited the principle to design a unique two-phase induction motor in 1883. In 1885, Galileo Ferraris independently researched the concept. In 1888, Ferraris published his research in a paper to the Royal Academy of Sciences in Turin.
Tesla had suggested that the commutators from a machine could be removed and the device could operate on a rotary field of force. Professor Poeschel, his teacher, stated that would be akin to building a perpetual motion machine. Tesla would later attain , Electric Motor (December 1889), which resembles the motor seen in many of Tesla's photos. This classic alternating current electro-magnetic motor was an induction motor.
Michail Osipovich Dolivo-Dobrovolsky later invented a three-phase "cage-rotor" in 1890. This type of motor is now used for the vast majority of commercial applications.
Components
A typical AC motor consists of two parts:
- An outside stationary stator having coils supplied with AC current to produce a rotating magnetic field, and;
- An inside rotor attached to the output shaft that is given a torque by the rotating field.
Torque motors
A torque motor (also known as a limited torque motor) is a specialized form of induction motor which is capable of operating indefinitely while stalled, that is, with the rotor blocked from turning, without incurring damage. In this mode of operation, the motor will apply a steady torque to the load (hence the name).
A common application of a torque motor would be the supply- and take-up reel motors in a tape drive. In this application, driven from a low voltage, the characteristics of these motors allow a relatively-constant light tension to be applied to the tape whether or not the capstan is feeding tape past the tape heads. Driven from a higher voltage, (and so delivering a higher torque), the torque motors can also achieve fast-forward and rewind operation without requiring any additional mechanics such as gears or clutches. In the computer world, torque motors are used with force feedback steering wheels.
Another common application is the control of the throttle of an internal combustion engine in conjunction with an electronic governor. In this usage, the motor works against a return spring to move the throttle in accordance with the output of the governor. The latter monitors engine speed by counting electrical pulses from the ignition system or from a magnetic pickup and, depending on the speed, makes small adjustments to the amount of current applied to the motor. If the engine starts to slow down relative to the desired speed, the current will be increased, the motor will develop more torque, pulling against the return spring and opening the throttle. Should the engine run too fast, the governor will reduce the current being applied to the motor, causing the return spring to pull back and close the throttle.
Slip ring
The slip ring or wound rotor motor is an induction machine where the rotor comprises a set of coils that are terminated in slip rings to which external impedances can be connected. The stator is the same as is used with a standard squirrel cage motor.
By changing the impedance connected to the rotor circuit, the speed/current and speed/torque curves can be altered.
The slip ring motor is used primarily to start a high inertia load or a load that requires a very high starting torque across the full speed range. By correctly selecting the resistors used in the secondary resistance or slip ring starter, the motor is able to produce maximum torque at a relatively low current from zero speed to full speed. A secondary use of the slip ring motor is to provide a means of speed control. Because the torque curve of the motor is effectively modified by the resistance connected to the rotor circuit, the speed of the motor can be altered. Increasing the value of resistance on the rotor circuit will move the speed of maximum torque down. If the resistance connected to the rotor is increased beyond the point where the maximum torque occurs at zero speed, the torque will be further reduced.
When used with a load that has a torque curve that increases with speed, the motor will operate at the speed where the torque developed by the motor is equal to the load torque. Reducing the load will cause the motor to speed up, and increasing the load will cause the motor to slow down until the load and motor torque are equal. Operated in this manner, the slip losses are dissipated in the secondary resistors and can be very significant. The speed regulation is also very poor.
Stepper motors
Closely related in design to three-phase AC synchronous motors are stepper motors, where an internal rotor containing permanent magnets or a large iron core with salient poles is controlled by a set of external magnets that are switched electronically. A stepper motor may also be thought of as a cross between a DC electric motor and a solenoid. As each coil is energized in turn, the rotor aligns itself with the magnetic field produced by the energized field winding. Unlike a synchronous motor, in its application, the stepper motor may not rotate continuously; instead, it "steps" from one position to the next as field windings are energized and de-energized in sequence. Depending on the sequence, the rotor may turn forwards or backwards, and it may change direction, stop, speed up or slow down arbitrarily at any time.
Simple stepper motor drivers entirely energize or entirely de-energize the field windings, leading the rotor to "cog" to a limited number of positions; more sophisticated drivers can proportionally control the power to the field windings, allowing the rotors to position between the cog points and thereby rotate extremely smoothly. Computer controlled stepper motors are one of the most versatile forms of positioning systems, particularly when part of a digital servo-controlled system.
Stepper motors can be rotated to a specific angle in discrete steps with ease, and hence stepper motors are used for read/write head positioning in computer floppy diskette drives. They were used for the same purpose in pre-gigabyte era computer disk drives, where the precision and speed they offered was adequate for the correct positioning of the read/write head of a hard disk drive. As drive density increased, the precision and speed limitations of stepper motors made them obsolete for hard drives--the precision limitation made them unusable, and the speed limitation made them uncompetitive--thus newer hard disk drives use voice coil-based head actuator systems.
Stepper motors were and still are often used in computer printers, optical scanners, and digital photocopiers to move the optical scanning element, the print head carriage (of dot matrix and inkjet printers), and the platen. Likewise, many computer plotters (which since the early 1990s have been replaced with large-format inkjet and laser printers) used rotary stepper motors for pen and platen movement; the typical alternatives here were either linear stepper motors or servomotors with complex closed-loop control systems.
Stepper motors were upscaled to be used in electric vehicles under the term SRM (switched reluctance machine).
Linear motors
A linear motor is essentially an electric motor that has been "unrolled" so that, instead of producing a torque (rotation), it produces a linear force along its length by setting up a traveling electromagnetic field.
Linear motors are most commonly induction motors or stepper motors. You can find a linear motor in a maglev (Transrapid) train, where the train "flies" over the ground, and in many roller-coasters where the rapid motion of the motorless railcar is controlled by the rail. On a smaller scale, at least one letter-size (8.5" x 11") computer graphics X-Y pen plotter made by Hewlett-Packard (in the late 1970s to mid 1980's) used two linear stepper motors to move the pen along the two orthogonal axes.
Doubly-fed electric motor
Doubly-fed electric motors have two independent multiphase windings that actively participate in the energy conversion process with at least one of the winding sets electronically controlled for variable speed operation. Two is the most active multiphase winding sets possible without duplicating singly-fed or doubly-fed categories in the same package. As a result, doubly-fed electric motors are machines with an effective constant torque speed range that is twice synchronous speed for a given frequency of excitation. This is twice the constant torque speed range as singly-fed electric machines, which have only one active winding set.
A doubly-fed motor allows for a smaller electronic converter but the cost of the rotor winding and slip rings may offset the saving in the power electronics components. Difficulties with controlling speed near synchronous speed limit applications.
Singly-fed electric motor
Singly-fed electric machines incorporate a single multiphase winding set that is connected to a power supply. Singly-fed electric machines may be either induction or synchronous. The active winding set can be electronically controlled. Induction machines develop starting torque at zero speed and can operate as standalone machines. Synchronous machines must have auxiliary means for startup, such as a starting induction squirrel-cage winding or an electronic controller. Singly-fed electric machines have an effective constant torque speed range up to synchronous speed for a given excitation frequency.
The induction (asynchronous) motors (i.e., squirrel cage rotor or wound rotor), synchronous motors (i.e., field-excited, permanent magnet or brushless DC motors, reluctance motors, etc.), which are discussed on the this page, are examples of singly-fed motors. By far, singly-fed motors are the predominantly installed type of motors.
Nanotube nanomotor
Researchers at University of California, Berkeley, recently developed rotational bearings based upon multiwall carbon nanotubes. By attaching a gold plate (with dimensions of the order of 100nm) to the outer shell of a suspended multiwall carbon nanotube (like nested carbon cylinders), they are able to electrostatically rotate the outer shell relative to the inner core. These bearings are very robust; devices have been oscillated thousands of times with no indication of wear. These nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) are the next step in miniaturization that may find their way into commercial aspects in the future.
See also:
Materials
There is an impending shortage of many rare raw materials used in the manufacture of hybrid and electric cars (Nishiyama 2007) (Cox 2008). For example, the rare earth element dysprosium is required to fabricate many of the advanced electric motors used in hybrid cars (Cox 2008). However, over 95% of the world's rare earth elements are mined in China (Haxel et al. 2005), and domestic Chinese consumption is expected to consume China's entire supply by 2012 (Cox 2008).
While permanent magnet motors, favored in hybrids such as those made by Toyota, often use rare earth materials in their magnets, AC traction motors used in production electric vehicles such as the GM EV1, Toyota RAV4 EV and Tesla Roadster do not use permanent magnets or the associated rare earth materials. AC motors typically use conventional copper wire for their stator coils and copper or aluminum rods or bars for their rotor. AC motors do not significantly use rare earth materials.
Motor standards
The following are major design and manufacturing standards covering electric motors:
See also
External links
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- Video demonstration of an original 1887 domestic-use electric motor.
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- , explanations with animations from the University of New South Wales.
- , Kevin S. Brady.
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